Sri Lanka in India

[m_vaughan]

Its time to drop Agarkar from Test cricket at least when India play in sub-continent. Khan or RP Singh should replace Agrkar for the final Test. Agarkar is a total misfit in this Test team. He has done a good job in ODI's and he remains only good for the shorter version of the game.

I am not a very big fan of Zaheer Khan, as I think he is highly inconsistent, the complete opposite of someone like McGrath. And you need that in test cricket.

It would be fair to try out RP Singh, but at the moment Agarkar is still the best. Aditya did mention it but people tend to forget his 6 wickets in the Adelaide test, which according to me, won the test match for India. Remember, the Aussie bowling at that time was 2nd string, but their batting lineup wasnt.

 

[furyfoxx]

Lets not forget L. Balaji. He's a wicket taking bowler and can swing the ball both ways.

 

[aditya123]

Lets not forget L. Balaji. He's a wicket taking bowler and can swing the ball both ways.

People seem to forget that Balaji was our leading wicket taker (of all pacemen) in the India-Pakistan series earlier this year .
He swings it both ways and has a habit of picking up important wickets by LBWs and bowled .
He got just one chance in the IndianOil Cup in SRL and his performance was 1/48 from 10 overs and for some reason the selectors did not pick him for the Zim tour !
We`ve seen many guys get chances time and again even after performances worse than that .
Agarkar has been thrashed on many occassions and he has been persisted with and to be fair to him, he has performed well in the recent series.
So why they`ve lent such treatment to Balaji only, I don`t know !

 

[Adarsh]

9th December 2005, 08:12 AM #1078
Adarsh
Who thinks Pathan might open?

What did I say? I have got a great cricketer's mind!

 

[cricket_lover]

Pathan isn't a all-rounder yet. He is one in the making but we'll need him to be consistent with his scores. We could probably rate him an allrounder in another year or two.

India are in a very nice position. The morning session will be crucial and i'm sure SL will be attacking from the word go. Murali and Vaas would do bulk of the bowling and Bandara could come in as well.
Ganguly looks a bit more assured at the crease, and is playing the spinners quite well. He is getting that good stride forward and it always helps in against LBW.

I can't wait for the fourth day to start...but before that, i will need to attend my third final examination.

 

[Dhoni]

What a great knock by Gujarati hero Ifran Pathan!!! He picked up 3 wickets and scored important 93 runs. I don't care what people say, but to me he's a great all-rounder. He always perform for India.
India should look to win this one as they're in a commanding position. Ganguly, Yuvi and Dhoni needs to get some quick runs tomorrow and give the Sri Lankan a target of 400+ to chase. Come on India!!!

 

[sohum]

What did I say? I have got a great cricketer's mind!

More like coach.

 

[SaiSrini]

What a great knock by Gujarati hero Ifran Pathan!!! He picked up 3 wickets and scored important 93 runs. I don't care what people say, but to me he's a great all-rounder. He always perform for India.
India should look to win this one as they're in a commanding position. Ganguly, Yuvi and Dhoni needs to get some quick runs tomorrow and give the Sri Lankan a target of 400+ to chase. Come on India!!!

400? It should be between 350-400 becoz 400+ might make the Sri Lankans think of a draw and that would make it tougher to get wickets. Sri Lankans are quite good in slugging it out for draws!

Pathan isn't a all-rounder yet. He is one in the making but we'll need him to be consistent with his scores. We could probably rate him an allrounder in another year or two.

India are in a very nice position. The morning session will be crucial and i'm sure SL will be attacking from the word go. Murali and Vaas would do bulk of the bowling and Bandara could come in as well.
Ganguly looks a bit more assured at the crease, and is playing the spinners quite well. He is getting that good stride forward and it always helps in against LBW.

I can't wait for the fourth day to start...but before that, i will need to attend my third final examination.

I was thinking the same too. He now brings that huge stride forward to negate the chances of an LBW decision! And unlike the first innings, he didnt go for that unnecessary risk (even in the first innings, it was only one ball!). Still he looks far more assured than how he was in Zimbabwe during that century!

Lets not forget L. Balaji. He's a wicket taking bowler and can swing the ball both ways.

I feel Balaji is an excellent test bowler! He was tried in the ODI's and thrown away just like that! He can be brought back to the test squad (only!) and he will do very well for India in the tests! He is not very good in forcing wickets in the ODI's but he can relentlessly bowl long spells in tests and can be rewarded with wickets! Agarkar doesnt have that patience. He bowls a few good balls and almost always bowls a four ball sooner or later!

Also, Balaji and Pathan are a super-hit pair! They worked wonders for India last time in Pakistan (another tour of it coming up in January!). Hope Balaji comes back!

 

[Adarsh]

Declaring at 350 lead would give the Sri Lankans too much time to get it. As India will probably reach 350-400 lead by the first session , it will give the Srilankans 5 sessions (about 120-150 overs). Then they might go for a win and succeed.

 

[ashu2411]

What did I say? I have got a great cricketer's mind!

Yeah you do.

Declaring at 350 lead would give the Sri Lankans too much time to get it. As India will probably reach 350-400 lead by the first session , it will give the Srilankans 5 sessions (about 120-150 overs). Then they might go for a win and succeed.

I agree we need atleast 400 to defend.

 

[cricket_lover]

Forget about how much we need to score..the bottom line is play until lunch. and increase the rate in the last 10 overs prior to lunch.

 

[SaiSrini]

Declaring at 350 lead would give the Sri Lankans too much time to get it. As India will probably reach 350-400 lead by the first session , it will give the Srilankans 5 sessions (about 120-150 overs). Then they might go for a win and succeed.

Against Kumble on a turning wicket? The wicket still gives good turn for the likes of Murali and Bandara. Its just that Pathan, Dravid and the Indian batsmen have played Murali so well in the 2nd innings!

A 400 lead with 5 sessions to go should be great for India!

 

[ashu2411]

Against Kumble on a turning wicket? The wicket still gives good turn for the likes of Murali and Bandara. Its just that Pathan, Dravid and the Indian batsmen have played Murali so well in the 2nd innings!

A 400 lead with 5 sessions to go should be great for India!

I think its not the case that you can score 350 in 5 sessions or not, its more of if the team can handle the pressure of chasing such a big total. Dont forget what happened when india tried to go for draw in fifth day of test three against Pak earlier this year.

 

[sunnyvempati]

Looking at how teams have never chased down a total of more than wat 250 int he second innings EVER in the history of test cricket....i'd say india should be happy to have 350 as their lead...cuz aiming too high (400) mite get india to start hitting unnecessary shots which mite turn out to be a disaster....play a solid two sessions tomorrow and take it from there..

 

[cricket_lover]

350 is quite low. India should think about occupying the whole pre-lunch session. We'll need to accumulate runs at a good pace as well. 400~ will do the job. 5 sessions is good enough to get the SL bowled out but we need a high score as well.